03 March 2012

In their last year in the Atlantic Sun Conference before they head to the Ohio Valley Conference, the Belmont Bruins went out in style as they defeated the underdog Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast in the Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship, 83-69 this evening in Macon, Georgia. The Bruins, who will be making their fifth NCAA tournament berth of all time (and all since 2006), were led by a terrific performance by junior guard Kerron Johnson, who had 14 points, 11 boards and five assists and they were led in scoring by fellow junior guard Ian Clark, who had 16 points.

The Bruins will find out where they out headed for March Madness 2012 on Selection Sunday in eight days.

Boy was it one wild ending in Nashville or what? With bubble teams across the country praying that the favorite, the Murray State Racers, finds vengeance in the Ohio Valley Tournament Championship against the Tennessee State Tigers, who gave them their one and only loss on February 9th, it was the Racers who finally won a wild back and forth game by a 54-52 score. Racers guard Jewaun Long scored the winning bucket and Tigers forward Robert Covington was not able to make a game-winning three at the horn. Covington and star Racers point guard Isaiah Canaan were the leading scorers with 14 apiece.

The Racers will find out where they are headed in eight days on Selection Sunday. This is their first tournament appearance since 2010.

We have our first team in the 2012 NCAA Tournament and it is the Bulldogs from UNC Asheville as they captured the Big South Tournament Championship for the second year in a row today by defeating the Keydets from VMI, 80-64 at Kimmel Arena in Asheville, N.C. This is their third appearance in March Madness, having first gone to the dance in 2003. Asheville was heavily favored over the underdog Keydets, who were the seven seed in the Big South Tournament. The Bulldogs were led in scoring by junior forward Jeremy Atkinson with 18 points with 16 points coming from senior guard J.P. Primm and 15 from senior guard Matt Dickey.

The Bulldogs will find out where they are headed on Selection Sunday in eight days.

Remember that guy? The man who put Mitt Romney to shame with his flip-flopping as well as the guy who resurrected the Green Bay Packers from football oblivion (and I'm not referring to Don Majkowski although my father will say he's the one who got it started) and my football hero growing up is on twitter. Why is this relevant or noteworthy? Because I said so (and now that I mentioned it, terrible film).

01 March 2012

The Minnesota Wild rallied from being behind 4-1 early in the third period against the Montreal Canadiens to get the game into overtime. The tying goal was from Devin Setoguchi with ten seconds left. The game went to a shootout and with the Wild down to their final skater needing a goal for the tie, they turned to Setoguchi. And not only did he come up short, he failed spectacularly. Let's go to the videotape.

29 February 2012

I love this every year, when NFL Network closes out the NFL Scouting Combine with host Rich Eisen running the 40-yard dash. Maybe it's just me but watching a guy running a 40 in a full suit (plus pocket square) is just awesome. Let's go to the videotape.

And just like that, the NFL Scouting Combine has came to a conclusion (with none other than Rich Eisen closing out the show in Indianapolis). This was the one stage where almost every elite prospect and those almost there would be on one stage before we all head to New York in April for the draft. Some guys boosted their stock (Dontari Poe for example) while some destroyed theirs (Vontaze Burfict for example). Here is my post-combine mock draft, featuring many changes from my pre-combine edition.

28 February 2012

Because nothing goes better than NASCAR and singing, both Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer have recently released commercials (Busch's in October, Bowyer's a few days ago) featuring their "golden" pipes. So who's better? Let's go to the videotape.

We finally had a finish in the 2012 Daytona 500 after the wildest darn race you probably ever saw. Following a wild race postponed twice because of rain, a crazy crash in the first laps and a jet fuel fire, it was Matt Kenseth, who had such a fast ride as did his teammate Greg Biffle and they showed so much speed all week, who found himself in Victory Lane for the second time in four years. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. looked like he might've pushed Biffle to the win but he edge Biffle to the line for second. Biffle finished third, Denny Hamlin led the most laps with 57 and finished fourth, Jeff Burton finished fifth, Paul Menard finished in the sixth position, Kevin Harvick finished seventh, Carl Edwards took some damage but came in eighth, Joey Logano was ninth and Mark Martin rounded out the top ten.

27 February 2012

Don't tell me you have seen something like this before. Juan Pablo Montoya was speeding down the backstretch at Daytona to get back on the lead lap when something caused his car to lose control and crash into the jet dryer on the track, causing it to leak jet fuel which then caught on fire. I kid you not, not your father's Daytona 500.

They finally got the 2012 Daytona 500 going a couple hours ago but on the second lap, the first big crash occurred. Elliott Sadler got into the left rear of Jimmie Johnson's machine, turning him into the wall and then starting a big wreck where Johnson took a huge hit on the driver side from David Ragan and also collected Danica Patrick in her debut Sprint Cup Series race. Let's go to the videotape.

We are officially less than two weeks before Selection Sunday. I have a feeling that everyone is getting just as jonesed up for March Madness as I am. Here's my second look into where the announcing crews will be assigned for rounds 2-3 in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

I wrote early last night that the 2012 Daytona 500 was postponed to noon today. Well it has been postponed again, this time to 7 p.m. this evening. There was a 70 percent chance of rain this afternoon at Daytona International Speedway but it tapers off to around 30 percent at around 6 p.m. Let's hope they can get the race in tonight because if NASCAR can't, who knows what's next. The race could be run in that case of Easter Day weekend, the series' next off weekend.

26 February 2012

It sure was one hell of an NBA All-Star Game tonight at Amway Center in Orlando. The West led throughout the entire game, including by 19 at halftime, and they held off a late run by the East to win 152-149. Kevin Durant was your game MVP with a game high 36 points, tying him with LeBron James, and seven boards. Let's take a look at some of the highlights from the show tonight.

Thanks to rain throughout the day at Daytona Beach, Florida, for the first time ever the Daytona 500 will be postponed to another day. It will be run tomorrow at noon on FOX. Note that tomorrow there is a 70% chance of rain until 6 p.m. when it drops to 30%. Let's hope they can get the race in tomorrow because quite frankly this sucks for everyone, particularly the fans down at the World Center of Racing.

Everybody knew that Robert Griffin III was going to have an awesome 40-yard dash, considering the guy was only a track star when he was at Baylor who placed third in the NCAA in the 400-meter hurdles. And boy did he fail to disappoint in Indianapolis, running the dash in 4.41 and 4.38 seconds, which is the fastest 40 by any quarterback ever at the Combine (Michael Vick did not run at the Combine but was timed at 4.33 on his pro day). To compare, Cam Newton a year ago ran a 4.59 (around the same as what Andrew Luck ran today). Let's go to the videotape.

By all accounts, the dunk contest of last night was a disappointment (watch highlights here) and has been considered by some to be one of the worst in recent memory. Here is what I think should be done to bring the dunk contest back to its prior glory.

It certainly was not the most memorable dunk contest I've ever seen but there were some nice dunks in the dunk contest on Saturday evening with Jazz forward Jeremy Evans, who was a late replacement for Iman Shumpert, coming out on top. It was a show filled with throwbacks back to the old days. Let's see some highlights, eh?